BACS to run pitch for B2B work after MS&L bows out

The agency, which has held the business for six years, will complete work on the corporate and B2B account next month. BACS, the group responsible for processing direct debit payments, is understood to have organised a pitch to replace the firm.

MS&L managing director Nicholas Walters said the firm had declined to repitch for the business, but refused to say why. ‘By mutual agreement we have agreed to step down. There are a whole series of reasons, but I don’t feel the need to air them now,’ he said.

Ann-Marie Kesselman, corporate PR manager at BACS, said: ‘We are conducting a review of communications. Once it is complete, we will make an announcement.’

According to BACS, the number of people using internet banking rose from 3.5m in 2000 to 7.8m at the end of last year. It has estimated that more than two thirds of adults in the UK have set up at least one direct debit